Christopher Nolan filming Dunkirk in France

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan has started shooting his new Second World War epic Dunkirk on location in northern France.

The film tells the story of the famous mass evacuation of British and Allied forces to England that took place in the spring of 1940 as the Germans closed in on their invasion of France.

Dunkirk is among the biggest films to shoot in France in recent years and comes only a few months after the country raised its Tax Credit for International Productions to 30% of eligible local spend - an increase of 10%.

Filming on Dunkirk will also take place in the Netherlands, the UK and in Los Angeles.

Nolan has a habit of filming extensively on location, but also routinely shoot scenes in Los Angeles studio facilities, despite California’s limited tax credit support for feature productions.

Dunkirk will spotlight France’s capabilities as an international filming location and could help bring more big-budget studio shoots to the country.

Nolan’s film will in fact mark the second time in a decade that the events at Dunkirk have been depicted in a feature film. Director Joe Wright recreated the build-up to the evacuation in his Oscar-winning 2007 drama Atonement, but used the seaside community of Redcar in north-east England as a double for France.